Photo Essay

Tajikistan: French Air Detachment in Dushanbe Quietly Carries Out Afghan Mission

Dushanbe’s ramshackle airport can boast at least one unique feature. It is the only facility in the world to host both a NATO and Russian air detachment. Both unassuming military outposts share the same single airstrip and sit quietly at the same end of the field.

Since 2002, France's Air Detachment Dushanbe has been home to between 170 and 230 French soldiers, who handle transit logistics, supply drops and airlift support on behalf of NATO troops deployed in Afghanistan, an hour's flight to the south. Two Transall C-160s cargo planes form the backbone of the French operation in Dushanbe, while other NATO countries regularly use the facility as a way station for Afghanistan operations. In 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the repositioning of six Mirage fighter jets from Dushanbe to Kandahar so that they would be positioned closer to where anti-insurgency operations are conducted.

France uses the space free of charge thanks to a bilateral cooperation agreement. As a goodwill gesture, French army engineers have been busy resurfacing the runway, taxiways and other areas of the facility. In addition, Paris just granted Dushanbe a long-term, low interest 20 million euro loan to fund the 27 million euro construction of a new terminal, to be operational by September 9, 2011, the day marking the 20th anniversary of Tajikistan's independence.

Only allowed to disclose his first name due to security reasons, Maj. Oliver, an army engineer responsible for the resurfacing, says the project will bring Dushanbe's airport up to international air traffic standards. "Before, the airport was unable to receive some planes due to the width of the airstrip and taxiway," he says. Sophisticated equipment, flown in from France, uses lasers to ensure topographic precision.

Describing the daily routine, the detachment's commander, Lt. Col. Marc, says the two planes and emergency generators use 400 tons of fuel per month, all locally procured. The facility employs 70 Tajik personnel.

Though French service members live in apartments in the center of Dushanbe, the facility includes tents for soldiers transiting to and from Afghanistan. "Last year, during [2008's record breaking winter] cold crisis, it was much more comfortable to spend nights here in the tents than in houses in downtown Dushanbe," noted Marc. "During the winter we have an [independently functioning] heating system and, during the summer, air conditioning."

The two C-160s based in Dushanbe fly regular sorties to drop supplies. Aircrews have the most stressful job of anyone in the detachment, says Samaran, gesturing at a team loading anti-aircraft deflective flares and chaf onto the tactical aircraft. To keep them fresh, aircrews rotate every two months; other airmen and soldiers supporting the mission rotate home after four months.

Despite speculation last winter that Dushanbe airport could replace Manas in Kyrgyzstan as a staging ground for refueling missions in support of US operations in Afghanistan, Samaran dismisses those suggestions on a technicality: Dushanbe is surrounded on all sides by mountains that tankers full of fuel would struggle to clear.

The mission can be demanding, but the French soldiers and airmen based in Dushanbe feel fortunate, Samaran said, as they know that conditions are far more dangerous and stressful only an hour to the south. When troops return from an Afghan mission, "they can relax because they know they are on the territory of a friendly state," Samaran said.